2018 books

It's that time of the year again.
Time to review all the books I've read in the past three hundred sixtyish days.
As always, after the book title and author, I've got a brief review/synopsis/thoughts, and then the book's final sentence in parenthesis. (Spoiler tagged out except for the final word.) Heh. Spoiler tags. I'm so old.



Only 44 books this year, and, unsurprisingly, a number of them are graphic novels. However... next year I'm following in Stephanie's footsteps and partaking in a Goodreads challenge. So, if nothing else, I should have a much wider selection of titles in the following year. For now, though, here's what 2018 hath wrought:

Books read in 2018:



1. Strange Weather by Joe Hill – four novellas, each with a theme of bizarre weather (well, Loaded’s weather connection is tenuous, but whatever). Snapshot is sort of a cousin to The Sun Dog; this one has a guy with a supernatural Polaroid that can steal memories. Loaded is about a racist ex-military security guard who kills a mass shooter. It went a little overboard near the end, but it was still a good story. Aloft has a character skydiving and finds himself landing on a solid(ish) cloud that has a semi-telepathic link to him. (Yeah, it’s weird.) And Rain is a semi-apocalyptic tale about clouds raining needles. Rain had a great protagonist, Honeysuckle, whom I found a joy to spend time with. I hated Aloft’s narrator/protagonist, though. The ending of Loaded has stuck with me for the past four days since I finished it. And Snapshot was just more or less fluff, enjoyable, with some beautiful lines, but I don’t know if it’ll stick with me the way the others did. Here are the final sentences from each (note that Loaded’s is impactful, and should only be read if you’ve already read the story): Snapshot – “Me neither,” I said – and I haven’t yet. Loaded – If you had a gun,” he said to her, “this story might have a different ending.” Aloft – He figured his mother might like to know he was alive. Rain – God, let it be so.


2. Saga vol 8 by Brian K. Vaughn – Ehh. Previous volumes of Saga incorporated metaphors and philosophical ideas about various topics in a more natural fashion. This was blatant and felt preachy and just blah. I still want to see what happens with Hazel, but I think I’m okay with waiting until it’s all wrapped up (or at least a few more volumes have been released) to catch up on it all. The artwork is still fantastic, but this really did feel like filler and didn’t connect with me. (And that boy would become my brother.)


3. Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House by Michael Wolff –Donald Trump is the world’s most self-absorbed piece of shit. He’s also suffering from dementia to some degree. He’s misogynistic, xenophobic, racist, short-tempered (and short-fingered) and an all around asshole. His presidential campaign, election, and presidency is the greatest mistake America has ever made (and that’s saying something). None of this is news to anyone with even a few working brain cells. This book though, made it clear that a lot of people who are in politics are horrible (and a lot of RICH people are horrible, too), and Trump has surrounded himself with garbage-people who are all running their own agendas. Sigh. I just want him gone. He’s truly a horrible, horrible person, and the sooner he’s gone from our lives the better. (Standing on the Brietbart steps that October morning, Bannon smiled and said: “It’s going to be wild as shit.”)


4. I Am Not Okay With This by Charles Forsman – short graphic novel about Sydney, a teenage lesbian with emerging telekinesis. It felt like this might have been a better novel than a graphic novel, just so we could have gotten more time to experience Sydney’s life – although her life was a really downbeat one. (This is my gift to them.)


5. The Walking Dead vol 29 Lines We Cross by Robert Kirkman – eh. Started strong (I actually felt like characters were mourning the death from vol 28). Ended strong (if this was the last we see of Negan, that would be an EXCELLENT way to have wrapped up his arc). Middle was a whole lot of nothing. Princess may turn into someone I like, but the jury is still out. Overall, a lot of filler. I’m not sure where things are going yet. (Let’s go home.)


6. Paper Girls vol 4 by Brian K. Vaughn – Keeps getting better. (That’s what I thought the year 2000 would look like.)


7. Positive by David Wellington – Doorstopper of a novel from one of my favorite horror writers. This was about a zombie apocalypse 20 years later. A lot of the world is not in great shape. Finn lives in New York, until his mother goes zombie (when you get infected with the zombie virus you become a time bomb – you could turn in 20 minutes, or you could take up to 20 years to turn). Finn gets a tattoo on his hand indicating that he’s been possibly exposed (it could have been transmitted to him via breast milk when he was a baby), and is exiled from his community to go to a government holding facility for other “positives”. Except the government driver who is supposed to take him there winds up getting murdered by ‘road pirates’. So Finn has to go on the run. This was 400-something pages, and while it could have been a little bit slimmer, overall I really enjoyed the world that Wellington built. He’s been known to continue books in his worlds, so maybe we’ll meet up with the positives again. I wouldn’t object. (We did not put a tattoo on her little hand, and we aren’t going to.)


8. Day Four by Sarah Lotz – this had a great set up (a cruise ship gets stranded in the Gulf of Mexico, there’s a rapist-turned-murderer on board, as well as a psychic who may or may not be a fraud) …but then it just squandered it all. Things got worse on the ship, and the psychic began to build a cult, but any tension with regard to the rapist was lost when he got attacked by a spirit? Or something? And the “suicide sisters” (they were elderly women who had decided to commit suicide together during the cruise) - another couple of characters that had potential that was just completely wasted because one of them caught a norovirus that was going through the ranks of the ship. There were hints that the captain of the ship either didn’t exist, or was more devious than he should have been, but that fizzled out too. And the final fifth of the book was completely off the rails of what the rest of the novel had been. I mean, it had potential as well, but it came out of NOWHERE, and was like, “WHAT???” It was as if the author had six or seven ideas for different novels and just threw them all in. When I went to rate this at goodreads, I was originally going to give it two stars, but the more I thought of the wasted time and potential and honestly not that great writing, the angrier I got and the more I felt like this was just not a book I could recommend at all, so I gave it one star. AND I found out that apparently, this is a sequel. So apparently some of the characters from the first were included in this, and, evidently, the last fifth of this book makes more sense if you’ve read the first one. I won’t be reading it, though. (And then he laughs.)


9. The Chalk Man by C.J. Tudor – so good. Extremely creepy and very twisty mystery – due in large part to an unreliable narrator, who does an excellent job casting doubt on EVERYONE involved in the telling of a coming of age tale in 1986 in England. Ed Addams and his gang felt real, and the neighborhood they lived in was brought to life wonderfully. Seeing the ravages of time between 86 and 2016 were sad and powerful as well. And then of course, there were the murder(s..) that happened. It got a little bit over twisty near the end, but I powered through this in a day and a half, and will absolutely be looking for more from this author. (I start the engine and drive away … toward Manchester, and my future.)


10. The Outsider by Stephen King – Just a sort of mediocre King novel, actually. It was immensely readable – it was King, after all – and it was a neat idea, but …overall it didn’t connect somehow. The characters were tough for me to care about, for some reason. Even the gruesome murder that takes place at the beginning felt… artificial? I don’t know. A character added at the midpoint was …unexpected, but kind of good, too? Like I get that King likes that character, but I’m not sure she belonged in this novel? Overall, I don’t know that this one was anything that will be remembered for long. Oh well. (That was good.)


11. Monster by Michael Grant – I really enjoyed the Gone series, which was written by Michael Grant. (Basic premise – a dome comes down a California beach town, Perdido Beach, and anyone aged 16 or older is transported out – leaving just the children to fend for themselves in the impenetrable dome. Things get worse when certain kids begin to develop superpowers. So, like Lord of the Flies mixed with Heroes.) Anyway, when I saw that he had started a new trilogy set in the same universe, I was totally on board. And this started off great – it was neat to revisit some of the old characters from the Gone-verse, and most of the new characters were enjoyable enough, as well. But as the book went on, it just got… boring? Like the stakes are way too high now (the asteroid that caused the FAYZ from the original series has more rocks approaching earth, and they’re landing everywhere, and people near them get powers)… and the mystery behind the powers is known (aliens, pretty much) and it just felt like everything was cranked up to 11, but it made it really hard to CARE. I’m not entirely sure if I’ll read the next two books in the series or not. Oh, who am I kidding, I’ll at least check out book 2, and see if it gets better. Still, I hope that the magic isn’t really gone, that would be a pity. (“Well, Dekka, maybe it’s time that I was your strong right arm instead of the other way around,” Sam Temple said.)


12. Vicious by V.E. Schwab – Another book about superheroes (or EOs, “ExtraOrdinary”s) but this one was SO GOOD. The world building was nifty, but the real treat was the characters, and how the protagonist and antagonist (Eli and Victor) more or less switch over the course of the novel. And, oh, man, the relationships between Sydney and Serena and Sydney and Victor and of course, Mitchell. And Dol! All of the characters were a treasure, even if living around any of them would be extraordinarily frightening. Apparently there’s a sequel, so I’ve got another book to look forward to! Hooray!! (A moment later, the cold ran up here arms, and caught her breath, and beneath her hands a heartbeat fluttered, as Victor Vale opened his eyes, and smiled.)


13. Sleep Over: An Oral History of the Apocalypse by H.G. Bells – I gave this 4 stars on Goodreads, but I think it’s really more of a 3.5-er (unfortunately, you can’t do half stars on Goodreads)… Anyway. Basic gist of this novel was that an unexplained affliction of insomnia affects the entire world simultaneously. Each chapter of this was the recounting of a survivor (so, spoiler alert, the insomnia eventually ends, and also spoiler, not everyone dies). So, in a lot of ways, it’s a lot like World War Z (the book, not the movie) – where it’s first hand narratives of people who experienced the end of the world. Only it wasn’t the undead, it was people not being able to fall asleep. Which, bonus points for originality there. Some of the cons, though were that the voices of the characters…weren’t really that different from each other. Very few of the characters “stood out”, and there also wasn’t enough time with anyone for them to truly develop. There were scenes in each vignette that were shocking or compelling or whatever, but there was no character growth, or much of an overall plot, either. It was more a collection of dozens and dozens of (very) short stories that were all connected by being in the same world. That being what it was, it did very well. It’s obvious that the author did a lot of research, and they’re quite talented with writing, and world building, so, if this author writes anything else, I’ll give it a look. (Sleep, and sleep well.)


14. The Cabin at the End of the World by Paul Tremblay – Paul Tremblay is quickly becoming one of my favorite authors. This novel was mostly really really good. The final third wobbles a bit, though, sadly. Andrew and Eric have their adopted daughter, Wen, out on an isolated cabin near the Canadian border, when four strangers carrying homemade weapons arrive and demand to talk to them about making a choice that will impact the entire future of the world. Things get ugly very very fast. It’s a short novel – or felt short, because I read through it pretty quickly. I can easily see this being turned into a very tense movie. Like I said, the final 3rd of the book was… different than the first 2/3rd somehow. And while I love me some ambiguity, I felt like maybe the book would have been stronger if it had provided a more solid stance on certain events, but whatever. Overall it was a great novel. (We will go on.)


15. The Oracle Year by Charles Soule – Will Dando wakes up one morning with 108 predictions in his head. He starts posting them online, and as the predictions start actually happening, the world reacts. This was… okay. There were certain plot developments that I didn’t see coming, and there were others that weren’t explained sufficiently, in my opinion. And the character development was hit-or-miss, but, hey, it was interesting enough that I finished it, and was written well enough that I would probably be willing to check out future works from this author. (If it turned out that she did have more to say, well, there was always tomorrow.)


16. Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 11 Vol.1 The Spread of Their Evil by Christos Gage – Sigh. I haven’t read every “season” of the Buffy comics, but I’ve peeked at Wikipedia here and there to somewhat keep up with what’s been developing, and I think I read most of season 10? Or maybe 9? I can’t recall. Point is, my love for Buffy is a powerful thing, but I think it’s waning. This installment was just… bad. It’s supposed to feel “timely”, I’m guessing, but the government/racism/xenophobia storylines just felt …tiring, and trite and just not great. I mean, Trump’s America is crappy, making comics that are thinly veiled metaphors about it feels …tired, I guess. (But once they’ve got all that power… I promise you, whatever they want to use it for is going to be worse.)


17. Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 11 Vol 2. One Girl in All the World by Christos Gage – the story was slightly better than the first volume, but I’m pretty much done with Buffy at this point. It’s just the Buffy/Spike/Willow show, and really, they’re the worst/most boring characters they’ve got in that universe. (I love you, too.)


18. Mosquitoland by David Arnold – quite good. YA novel about 16 year old Mary Iris Malone (Mim) who runs away from home after her father remarries, and letters from her mom stop arriving. She is informed that her mom has been hospitalized, and she hops on a bus to go see her. The ending had some writing and plot twists that were phenomenal. The middle meandered a little, and some of the quirky characters were a little bit TOO quirky, but overall this was very enjoyable. (Because sometimes a thing’s not real until you say it out loud.)


19. Those Girls by Chevy Stevens – a “thriller” that was poorly written. 3 young girls live with their abusive, alcoholic father on a farm. One night he gets especially abusive, and he ends up getting killed in self defense. The girls go on the run shortly thereafter, only to end up getting captured by two teenage/early twenty boys who rape and torture them. Last half of the book jumps forward 17 years, and none of the “girls” (they’re grown women, but, of course, everyone (author included) still refers to them as “girls”) have made their lives all that much better. And one of them had a child as a result of the rapes. Blah. I’m irritated at myself for having finished this – I kept commenting that I needed to “finish my stupid book”. I knew while I was reading it that it wasn’t good, but I kept convincing myself it would get better. As is so often the case in these types of situations, it didn’t. Also of note, this book came into my circle of knowledge due to a recommendation from Stephen King. This isn’t the first time that he’s led me astray, sadly. Although there have been other recommendations that were fine. He’s hit or miss with those, is what I’m saying. (Three of us, once again.)


20. Letter 44 Volume I: Escape Velocity by Charles Soule – the 43rd president (Carroll) ends his presidency and leaves his successor (Stephen Blades) a letter telling him that 7 years ago, alien technology was discovered out near the asteroid belt. A crew on the spaceship USS Clarke was sent to investigate. Oh, and those wars that the US has been fighting were done to help build an army on the off chance that the aliens are on their way to earth. This was a pretty neat graphic novel – it has some flaws, but is intriguing enough to keep my interest in the series. (Just remember, when things get bleak – you are not alone.)


21. Letter 44 Volume II: Redshift by Charles Soule – the political backstabbing on Earth ratchets up, while the storyline on the Clarke gets …weird. I’m still on board with seeing where this is gonna go, especially as Blades makes decisions that are equally rational and obsessively boneheaded. (All I have to do is love you.)


22. Smek for President by Adam Rex – I read “The True Meaning of Smekday” a few years back, and enjoyed that, so when I discovered that a sequel had been written, I figured, sure. It was not quite as much fun as the original (law of diminishing returns strikes again, I guess). It was still somewhat fun, there were a few moments of joy/fun, but it felt like a case of …trying too hard? Still, it was just a YA (or maybe younger, really) novel that was light and breezy. J.Lo, Tip, and the new characters, Funsize, and Bill are all enjoyable enough to spend a few hours with here and there, so if they have any other adventures in the future, I’ll be there. (Am I late?)


23. The Song of the Orphans by Daniel Price – book 2 in the “Silvers” trilogy. I read book 1 in 2015, and declared it as “700 pages of awesome timey-wimey goodness”. Book 2 is another 700 pages of awesome timey-wimey goodness. Although, a little bit of the shine has worn off. Not a lot, but just enough to make it not *quite* as exciting as the first book was. But, this was still a great time. There was a MAJOR twist/reveal at around the ¾ mark, and it made me want to go back through the entire series at that point to see if there had been hints/foreshadowing. I opted not to, because MAN that would be a lot of work, and also because Daniel Price has OBVIOUSLY planned this entire epic extremely well. Anyway, book 1 had the number 5 throughout, and this one had the number 4 pop up constantly. Which made me wonder if it’s really going to be a 5 book series, rather than a trilogy, and each book would have the number get lower. The overall series IS counting down to the date where the world is going to end, after all. Still, this series has been a lot of fun so far, and I’m eagerly awaiting book 3. (They kept perfect time.)


24. Beverly by Nick Drnaso – graphic novel, quick read. A bunch of slice-of-life stories about various folks in Anytown, America. All of whom lead normal, modern, depressing-as-hell lives. This whole collection felt very human, moderately cynical, and just a tinge …off. I think if any of it had been balanced with a bit of hope or optimism, this may have been brilliant. Instead it was just a downer that left me a little confused, and a bit of a bad taste in my mouth. (See you later.)


25. Springfield Confidential: Jokes, Secrets, and Outright Lies from a Lifetime Writing for The Simpsons by Mike Reiss – Quick read that was part autobiography, part behind-the-scenes, part joke book from one of the contributing writers. I’m sure Mike is a funny and swell guy, but, sadly, a LOT of the jokes fell flat for me (much like modern episodes of the Simpsons!). Comedy is hard, after all. And comedy books even more so. For so much of comedy to work, it’s the delivery. But, the overall sense I got from the book is that writing at the Simpsons (going on season 30!! Holy crap!) is a lot of fun, but… I think it probably needs some new blood. Sure, everyone knows each other, and gets along just fine (there was incredibly little “drama” from all the years he’s worked there) but the show is really just a shadow of its former glorious self. It’s somewhat telling that a good portion of the stories and episodes he talked about were from the first 9 years… Ah, well, it was still a neat little glimpse into what goes into making a show that has absolutely changed the world we live in. (The teddy bear below it was my Christmas gift to Denise; the cremation urn was her gift to me.)


26. Jupiter’s Legacy Book One by Mark Millar – pretty standard superhero tale. A group of average folks find an island (which may have actually been an alien spaceship) back in the 1930s, which turned them into superheroes. 70 years later, and America isn’t doing all that great financially. Some infighting between the older superhero generation leads to a murder of the patriarch of the family, and his daughter (pregnant by the child of a supervillain…) goes on the run. Jump 10 years into the future. They’re still fugitives, until they get found out, and decide they’re going to finally fight back. Nothing new or groundbreaking, really, but it’s decent enough that I’ll continue reading the series for now. (When did superheroes ever care about the odds?)


27. Jupiter’s Legacy Book Two by Mark Millar – pretty sure the writers got tired of the storyline. It all got wrapped up pretty quickly, and while it dropped some hints at what story could be done going forward, I don’t think I’ll be interested enough to continue. The ending had a page stating that “Jupiter’s Requiem” would be coming in “2019”, so, they do seem to have finished up the “Legacy” section of the story they’re telling (there is also “Jupiter’s Circle” which is a prequel focusing on the 1932 generation that I have zero interest in.) Overall… I think that superhero stories have to be something REALLY special to stand out, and this just…wasn’t. (It’s the secret of the universe, sweetheart…why else would we be here?)


28. The Hunger by Alma Katsu – You know the Donner party? That doomed pioneer expedition back in 1846 where the group got stranded in the Sierra mountains and reportedly resorted to cannibalism in order to survive? Well…what if, horrific as that was, there was also something ELSE out there? Stalking them. Picking them off one by one. Hunting. This re-imagining was pretty great. Katsu writes beautifully, and captures the time very well – it’s crazy how not all THAT long ago, life was much more difficult and rough than it currently is. This was a neat – and especially near the end – very tense and gripping horror/history book. (He fell to his knees and reached out a hand.)


29. Vengeful by V.E. Schwab – It was so nice to get back into this universe! Apparently this is going to be a trilogy, which is the good news. The bad news is book 2 just came out, and I have no idea when 3 is going to be released. This brought back Victor and Eli and Sydney and Mitchell and Stell, and introduced a bunch of NEW EO’s (and an organization hunting them – EON): June, Marcella, and a large number of cannon fodder folks. Nobody is safe in this world. I gave this book 5 stars on goodreads, even if it was really more a 4.5, but the characters and world building are truly fantastic. I like how the concepts of family, power, revenge, death and sexism were all investigated and handled so well. The wait for the 3rd book is going to be brutal. (June glanced in the rearview mirror, checked her new face, and drove away.)


30. The Walking Dead vol. 30: New World Order by Robert Kirkman – okay, Walking Dead (comics version) is back on track. Two ideologies are about to clash, and I’m totally onboard with it. (Plus, no Negan!) It’s great that there can be tension in the storyline without zombies (I think only like 3 pages had any zombies in it to this time around) and the characters are strong enough for you to keep caring. No idea how this story arc will pan out, but the series has earned enough good will for me to keep with it, and as they are laying the groundwork for this arc to get going, they’ve got my interest. (Then maybe we need a new world order.)


31. Saga vol 9 by Michael K Vaughn – Volume 8 didn’t really work for me, but boy, did they make up for it with volume 9. All the feels. A few shocking deaths, crazy ass art work, humor, characters you love (or love to hate)… all the stuff that makes Saga great. (Not everybody does.)


32. Come Closer by Sara Gran – it’s called a novel on the outside cover, but it’s really more a novella, because it wasn’t even 200 pages. Anyway. Light breezy book about a woman, Amanda, who gets possessed by a demon, and has her life with her husband, Ed, pretty much destroyed as a result. The characters weren’t really developed well enough to care too much as Amanda’s life gets taken over by the demon, but it held my interest enough to read through the entire thing (the fact that it’s so short helps, too.) I think this is a rare book that would have been better had it actually been longer. (And that’s all I’ve ever wanted, really: someone to love me, and never leave me alone.)


33. Everything That Follows by Meg Little Reilly – Kat, Hunter, and Kyle head out onto Hunter’s boat after a late night of drinking, and Kyle accidentally falls overboard. Kat and Hunter panic, and don’t go the cops. This was …okay. The writing was above average, but there were a lot of confusing jumps in time, and while I wanted to find out what was going to happen I also found it difficult to get through. I may check out other stuff from the writer, because she does have a way with words. (Kyle, and the invulnerable tide that had pulled everything in, was behind her now.)


34. Kick Ass The New Girl Volume 1 by Mark Millar – The original Kick Ass graphic novels (and the first movie) were great fun, that got progressively less inventive and engaging. So, a reboot of the franchise? Well, sure. I’m down. And this one turned out to be pretty great! I like Patience, and watching as she grows into the superhero she actually is. And having her nemesis be related to her means some great drama is brewing for future installments. It’s not as funny as the original, and some of the gore at the end felt a little gratuitous, but that’s kind of to be expected with Millar’s stuff. Overall, I’m not complaining about this new installment at all. (What exactly do we call you?)


35. Elevation by Stephen King – short little novella from King. This was about Scott Carey, a guy in Castle Rock, who has been afflicted with a mysterious …affliction. He’s losing weight, but not mass. As his weightlessness drops closer and closer to zero, Scott’s interactions with some of the citizens of Castle Rock have bigger impacts. This was a super quick read that was …okay? Nothing huge, and it probably could have (and/or should have?) been included in a collection of short stories instead of released on its own. But, whatever. I’m pretty happy with any King work. (Somewhere high above them, Scott Carey continued to gain elevation, rising above the earth’s mortal grip with his face turned toward the stars.)

36. We Sold Our Souls by Grady Hendrix – this took a little bit of getting into for me, but once I did, it really took off and was one hell of a fun ride. Kris Pulaski was lead guitar in a heavy metal band called Dürt Würk in the early 90s. (Were there still metal bands in the early 90s? Sure, but grunge was kinda forcing them into oblivion, but whatever) Anyway, the band – Kris, Scottie Rocket on bass, Kurt on drums, and lead singer Terry Hunt – was on the verge of becoming “big”, when “contract night” happened. The band broke up, Terry went on to become a solo act known as Koffin (akaThe Blind King) (imagine huge elements of Marilyn Manson – which the novel even admits) who became super successful, while the other three members of the band became bitter and broken individuals. 20 years later, Koffin announces he’s doing a retirement tour, and Kris decides she needs to confront Terry about what happened on contract night, and perhaps get the band back together. When she goes to visit Scottie Rocket at his home, she finds that Scottie has become a paranoid, broken man who claims that Terry and his dark forces are spying on them all the time. Things get progressively worse and spookier as it becomes evident that Scottie’s delusions are…not so delusional. (While reading this, I saw a UPS driver coming into the station, and my heart stopped for a half a second…) This wasn’t a perfect book – like I said, it was a little bit slow at first, and I had hoped for a more satisfying conclusion to some of the character’s arcs – but I haven’t read a “bad” Hendrix novel yet, and this is another that I recommend to anyone who is a fan of metal, or horror, or the mixing of the two. (One pebble at a time.)


37. How to Invent Everything: A Survival Guide for the Stranded Time Traveller by Ryan North – This isn’t exactly a “novel”, per se. It’s packaged as a guidebook for anyone who uses a Chronotix FC3000 time travel machine and gets, well, stranded in a time in the past and wants to help boost that time period along. Find yourself thousands of years in the past and written language hasn’t been developed yet? Well, this book will help you out! Stranded in the time before penicillin? Got ya covered! Want to have your civilization skip over the dark ages and get into the Renaissance? This is the book for you. It’s a very dense, but still highly readable (and quite snarky) encyclopedia type manual that showcases all the different pieces that have gotten civilization to the point we’re at. (With warmest professional regards from your friends at Chronotix Solutions.)


38. Girl Town by Carolyn Nowak – graphic novel that was more like 5 short stories. Each of these were drawn with different (and yet, all highly impressive!) art styles. Most of the short stories didn’t really have much happen, but they were still enjoyable. The first was “Girl Town”, which focused on a group of young women who live next to each other; one of them has an unspoken crush on the meanest bully. Again, not a lot happens in it, but it was still just… enjoyable. (And angry.) The next, “Radishes”, was odd, but still fun, and actually a bit touching. Two young women are walking around and discover a hidden basket of magic food. When they eat different things, bits of magic occur – like the apples make them levitate. The radishes cause a second version of themselves to momentarily appear. (Let’s get outta here.) The third story was the longest, and my favorite of the bunch. “Diane’s Electric Tongue” takes place in a world where robots are more advanced and common than our own. The story focuses on Diane and her relationship with her robot, Harbor, along with her relationship with her group of friends and her ex. I could have easily read an entire novel about this storyline. (I will be with her until she doesn’t want me anymore.) “The Big Burning House” was the shortest, and in my opinion the weakest of the bunch. It was just a podcast of two friends talking about a tv series they were obsessed with. The artwork was impressive, as always, and the dialogue was realistic enough, but, like most podcasts out there, I just found what the characters were talking about boring, and the story didn’t really go anywhere. Or maybe I just missed the point of it? (But was she strong enough not to drown?) The final story, “Please Sleep Over” was a bit confusing and a bit creepy. Two young women friends are staying at the summer home of one of their parents, out in the woods. While one of them is showering up, a neighbor comes in and starts making small talk, asking if they remember certain things from the past. She doesn’t, but doesn’t want to be rude. Near the end of the story, yet another person makes their way into the house. It would have been nice to have some resolution, but, again, the artwork was really great. (I can see her.)


39. The Grownup by Gillian Flynn – a short story that I read in just under an hour (it’s only 64 pages long) that, despite being so brief managed to contain several twists and turns that thoroughly entertained. (Nothing to worry about at all.)


40. Come Again by Nate Powell – graphic novel about a commune in Arkansas in the 70s. This was confusing and obtuse and I didn’t really like it very much. (Will you need to?)


41. Dry by Neal Shusterman and Jarrod Shusterman – a Young Adult dystopian novel…except it’s set in the very near future, and it’s semi-plausible (maybe even inevitable?) – Southern California’s residents run out of water. Completely. It doesn’t go well after that. Concept was okay, but, man, oh, man, did I I hate nearly every. Single. Character. (with the possible exception of Kingston, the dog) I get they’re all teens (or younger), and they’re in a situation way over their heads, but, eh. I just didn’t *like* anyone, and was, honestly, kind of hoping it would end poorly for all of them. Granted, it was a YA novel, so it was extremely unlikely that it would have gone that way, but I think if it HAD… I might have had more respect for it as a story. (And a wellspring of all the things that still might be.)


42. Letter 44 Volume III: Dark Matter by Charles Soule – it’s been a while since I had read volumes 1 and 2, so I’d forgotten a lot of what had led up to this, which made getting back into the story a little difficult. Plus… a lot of the pacing felt like ..well, sort of like just spinning wheels. Even with World War 3 going on in the background, the story was just …there. I will probably be completing the series, just to find out what it’s all building toward, but I’m not super motivated to do it at this point. Hopefully it picks up the pace soon; as it ended with a bit of a cliffhanger, I suspect/hope that it will in the next volume. (I would like to meet with the President.)


43. He-Man/Thundercats by Rob David – a graphic novel crossover between He-Man and the Masters of the Universe and the Thundercats properties. This started off pretty strong – the artwork is unique – not utilizing either cartoon from the 80s – but the novelty wore off pretty quickly when I realized that there were no real stakes (nobody was going to be killed off (at least permanently) or have any real growth). This was the equivalent of when I was a young kid playing with my action figures and having them battle one another. Great fun when I was 10, not quite as enjoyable at 43. (By the power of Greyskull!)


44. Phoebe and Her Unicorn in Unicorn Theater by Dana Simpson – I greatly enjoyed the Phoebe and Her Unicorn stand alone comics. Those sometimes have arcs that extend over several weeks, but are for the most part self-contained and just there as jokes. This was a graphic novel with a plot through the entire thing, and …it wasn’t quite as enjoyable. There wasn’t a lot of the humor that the normal three panel strips have, and since I haven’t read any of the previous novels (apparently there have abeen a few other graphic novel outings like this one) some of the continuation was lost on me. (Nothing that really hindered the enjoyment of the novel – just a few new characters that I’d never seen before, really.) It was still very beautiful and bright and charming, just wasn’t as great as the original-flavor Phoebe strips are. (Then consider this a twist ending.)

title TBA, I guess

I couldn't think of a decent title. I'm in a bit of a grumpy mood, mostly (I'm assuming) due to hunger. I'm in the process of cooking dinner now, so the hunger issue will be dealt with relatively soon, but other things ARE irritating me. Old man time!!

Jimmy Kimmel, and his "film yourself cruelly lying to your young children" shtick he does every year. Why is this still a thing?

Also, I'm several thousand words behind schedule on Nano. Which I don't *super* care about - I'll write what I write - but it does minorly bug, ya know?

And the fact that Trench (the latest Twenty One Pilots album) is ...only okay. I've listeened to it about 4 or 5 times through now, and my consensus is: Starts off really strong, has a weak/meandering middle, finishes strong. Still think My Blood is the second worst song TOP has ever produced (I skip it each go around on the cd) but Bandito, Jumpsuit, Levitate (those two really ought to be played back-to-back on the radio, like Queen's We Will Rock You/We Are the Champions, or Green Day's Brain Stew/Jaded), Morph, Legend, Leave the City and Pet Cheetah are all good tunes.

Hold on, food cooking break.

Okay,

And there's something womlu with our computer and so all the text that I'm writing shows up green and illegible (but it doesn't publish that way, fortunately, so, it's not all bad, I guess.)

And it's the last weekend before Election Day, which means I'm "on call" this weekend, in case any last minute political orders come through (it's never happened in the 10 years that I've been doing this, but they always ask, and we almost always say that we'll be available for them.)

And... I think those are the big things that were bugging me. And like I said, I'm sure once I get some food in my belly, I'll feel much better. I think I'm going to go do that now.

from my phone, yo

Well, this is different. I'm blogging this from my phone, because it's late and I'm tired, and it's something I can do. I don't necessarily have anything of interest to say about it, but it's a first for me. Tomorrow is halloween. Kinda crazy that we're at that point in the year already. And a week from today is (finally) election day.  I truly hope for a better result than the last one.
(I am honestly unsure of what tuesdays outcome will be. 16 seemed like a sure thing, after all. This year ive been trying to keep my expectations low. Guess well find out in a weeks time.) Anyway, blogging has now officially been done, which means I can try to get some rest now. . Haven't been sleeping well lately. I blame the news, mostly. And getting older, maybe. And the seasons. And our 13 year old mattress. Sheesh, I am totally turning into an old man who just complains about everything. ..

obligation complete

I'm too tired to do much more than that, sorry.

company loves misery

I mean, it's a small comfort, but at least I'm not the only employee that is feeling absolutely overwhelmed, overworked, overpressured and overstressed due to political season.

It's a testament to ...well, I guess to needing to pay bills and eat, that more of us haven't just said screw this and walked off the job. Because, hoo boy, if that were an option...

On the bright side, we did make 3rd quarter's budget, so there's a bonus coming at the end of the year for that. AND. There are only 20-something more days until the freaking midterms and then things will normalize for a bit. Hopefully.

delay tactics!

Yay, I have inspiration for a story!

Now comes the part where I decide to focus on research and tinkering with the plot in my mind instead of actually writing it.

Chick-fil-lame

Went and had Chick-fil-a for the first time in, like two decades (probably closer to three, to be honest),  and... it did not live up to the hype that I had in my mind/memory. So few things really do. But, that just makes it that much easier to never need to eat there again. (I know, the politics of the owners should be enough, but I remembered the food as being SO good. Turns out, nope.)

100 days left

Random entry time!

Today is Stephen King's 71st birthday.

Relatedly, I recently finished watching season 1 of Mr. Mercedes (the streaming series from ...AT&T?? Man, does EVERYONE have a streaming service now?) Anyway, I picked up the DVD from the library (aka, sticking it to The Man) and watched the 10 episode season. Overall, I felt it was a pretty strong bit of television, and improved a lot on the novel. (I felt that the novel was standard King. I liked it a lot, but it wasn't one of his best.) ANyway, the series was immensly watchable, with a few things that didn't work. Oddly, there is a scene in the novel that was supremely disturbing that ...didn't work as well on screen. (Without getting spoilery, I'll just say Brady's younger brother.) And dream scenes bug me a lot lately, and there were a few of those that i felt were somewhat just padding. So, maybe if the series had been 8 episodes it would have been stronger? I mean, 10 didn't really wear out its welcome or anything, but it still could have been tightened up somewhat.
The music selection was top notch.  And I adored Fred and was always happy to see him in the credits. The casting of Brady, Hodges, and Jerome were all perfecto. And while my feelings toward book-Holly are ambivalent, tv series-Holly went a long way toward improving my outlook on the character.
Speaking of characters and improvment - Brady. Oh man, King tries (too hard, maybe?) in the novel to have you HATE him. And, yes, he's vile and murderous and so on, but ... the series just makes it so much better. Because while he's frightening and hateful, he's also ...more human? Like, there are moments where you can actually feel sympathy for him, and where he has glimpses of actual humanity that make him all the more complex. (Plus, he did murder a homophobic white supremacist, so he's not all bad, I guess...)
I read that a lot of people didn't like book-Hodges because he's selfish and puts others in danger at the cost of his obsession with Brady. Series-Hodges is unlikable for other reasons (he can be off-putting) but I think they toned down the "putting other people in danger" aspect to a more realistic degree.
Wow, I rambled about that a lot more than I had intended to. Suffice to say that I enjoyed the show, and once season 2 gets out on DVD, I'll check that out, too. (I wonder if they will stick to the Mr Mercedes trilogy...and if that means that there will be anything past a season 3. Book 2 didn't really focus on Brady much, actually so I'm guessing season 2 will follow more of book 3.... I dunno.

ANYWAY.

What else?

Silas is playing the Legend of Zelda (original flavor) and .... Link was kind of fat back in the day. Not body shaming, just observing.

Speaking of body shaming and Nintendo.
Actually, no. Not even gonna go there. (apologies for even approaching it, as I'm sure if you're aware of it, it's now (back) in your mind now...)

Tangentially related to THAT, though - overheard some people at work the other day discussing Brett Kavanaugh. More accurately, they were discussing the allegations against him. The gist of the conversation was that it was "a long time ago" when they were both in high school, and, bringing things up NOW was unfair and "back when I was in high school there were  boys who would try to sneak into women's bathrooms" and  blah blah blah, because people suck.  (Somewhat interestingly, we had a person who worked at the station with the same name as the current SC nominee, although his last name was spelled with a C instead of a K. Based on the little I know of both Bretts, I would prefer that *our* Brett was the one who would be deciding court cases.)

November cant' get here soon enough. I am SO freaking tired of political season.

I have watched about the first third of Avengers Infinity War so far, and so forgive me if this is answered later - but...why not use the Reality Stone to, um, make it so you have the others?

There's a new show starting on NBC on MOnday called Manifest, which looks a bit like a Lost-reboot, but I've watched the first segment (it's been posted up on YouTube) and ...eh. It looks like it's going to focus more on the relationships than on the actual mystery of what happened, and I'm just not there for it. (Although I'm curious if Trump will get mentioned in the show at all. I mean, if you had disappeared in 2013, and then just arrived in 2018, THAT would certainly be a shock to discover. Hell, living through it has been a bit of  one. Also, if it did happen in real life, you know he'd take credit for the plane returning/blame Obama somehow.)

There are only 100 days left in 2018. Not sure how many of them will be blogging days, but I guess we'll see. And then after that.... I've been thinking about possibly not blogging anymore. I don't (typically) have a lot to talk about, and I don't know if anyone is even still reading. But, then, I've felt that way before, and have somehow always come back around, so who even knows.

so August was pretty quiet

Not that September is shaping up to be anything yet, either. I guess it's still too early to tell.

Anyway.

Anything interesting lately? Erm... I shaved my head yesterday, so... that has taken some time to adjust to. (Tomorrow I get to see all the reactions from coworkers. Oh, goody.)

Harper's car is in need of repairs of ...some magnitude, although exactly how much/what is still trying to be determined. Here's hoping that the universe is feeling kind.

I've been super uninspired when it comes to writing, and have been thinking that since normally all my story ideas are of the fantastical/sci-fi/not really realistic type... that maybe I should take a crack at writing something a little more ...grounded. It hasn't happened yet, but I have been thinking about it. I don't even know if that is possible for me - to write something that is about actual people having actual lives that could actually happen? Well, the idea is simmering in my head, we'll see if anything results from it.

like rats off a sinking whatever

a LOT of people have been leaving/are leaving work lately/soon. It seems to happen like this every so often - there will be a rash of multiple folks all find other work (or get fired) all around the same time.
it doesn't really bother me - just makes me a little sad, is all. Most of these folks are good people (I'm sure they all are, but I don't KNOW all of them). Plus, since one of them is from my department, and another is someone that I work pretty closely with, MY workday is being impacted, which I'm not a fan of. And, sadly, I know that both of these coworkers would probably stay with the company, if they were being paid what they're actually worth. Stupid cheapskate corporation.

top 100 scifi movies of all time

Oh, random articles on the internet...

So, just like how a few weeks ago I listed the top 100 horror movies (of all time!), now I've got the top 100 science fiction flicks, courtesy of this article at buisnessinsider.com. And, again, these are based off of scores from critics. And, again, bolding the ones I've seen.

100. Movement and Location (2015)
99.  Serenity (2005)
98.  Inception (2010)
97.  Twelve Monkeys (1996)
96.  Thelma (2017)
95.  Okja (2017)
94.  X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014)
93.  Captain America: Civil War (2016)
92.  Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)
91.  Attack the Block (2011)
90.  THX 1138 (1971)
89.  Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978)
88.  Repo Man (1984)
87.  The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (2013)
86.  Birdboy: The Forgotten Children (2017)
85.  Ghost in the Shell (1996)
84.  10 Cloverfield Lane (2016)
83.  Wonder Woman (2017)
82.  World on a Wire (1973)
81.  Midnight Special (2016)
80.  Escape From New York (1981)
79.  Guardians of the Galaxy (2014)
78.  Logan (2017)
77.  Westworld (1973)
76.  Evolution (2016)
75.  Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior (1982)
74.  WarGames (1983)
73.  Sleeper (1973)
72.  2046 (2005)
71.  Ex Machina (2015)
70.  A Clockwork Orange (1971)
69.  Under the Skin (2014)
68.  Godzilla (1954)
67.  Dawn of the Planet of the Apes (2014)
66.  Iron Man (2008)
65.  Jodorowsky's Dune (2014)
64.  Annihilation (2018)
63.  The Fly (1986)
62.  Planet of the Apes (1968)
61.  Time Bandits (1981)
60.  Minority Report (2002)
59.  The Survivalist (2017)
58.  The Endless (2018)
57.  Incredibles 2 (2018)
56.  Melancholia (2011)
55.  Superman (1978)
54.  The Martian (2015)
53.  Sorry to Bother You (2018)
52.  Paprika (2007)
51.  District 9 (2009)
50.  Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens (2015)
49.  The World's End (2013)
48.  Battle Royale (2000)
47.  Upstream Color (2013)
46.  Little Shop of Horror (1986)
45.  The Man Who Fell to Earth (1976)
44.  Arrival (2016)
43.  Blade Runner 2049 (2017)
42.  Isle of Dogs (2018)
41.  Marjorie Prime (2017)
40.  A Quiet Place (2018)
39.  Star Trek (2009)
38.  2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
37.  The Lobster (2016)
36.  Face/Off (1997)
35.  Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
34.  War For the Planet of the Apes (2017)
33.  Alien (1979)
32.  Spider-Man 2 (2004)
31.  Avatar (2009)
30.  Snowpiercer (2014)
29.  The Terminator (1984)
28.  Looper (2012)
27.  Aliens (1986)
26.  Children of Men (2006)
25.  Holy Motors (2012)
24.  The Iron Giant (1999)
23.  The Host (2007)
22.  Star Wars: Episode VIII - The Last Jedi (2017)
21.  Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind (1985)
20.  Back to the Future (1985)
19.  Superman II (1981)
18.  Black Panther (2018)
17.  Donnie Darko: The Director's Cut (2014)
16.  Brazil (1985)
15.  Blade Runner (1982)
14.  Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope (1977)
13.  Mad Max: Fury Road (2015)
12.  Hard to Be a God (2015)
11.  King Kong (1933)
10.  It's Such a Beautiful Day (2012)
9.   Solaris (1972)
8.   Her (2013)
7.   Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977)
6.   E.T. The Extra-Terrstrial (1982)
5.   Werkmeister Harmonies (2001)
4.   Threads (1984)
3.   WALL-E (2008)
2.   Gravity (2013)
1.   Metropolis (1927)

Doctor Doctor give me the news

the rest of that lyric doesn't apply to this, but whatevs. It's only slightly better than the first "doctor" related song that came to mind, which was Dr Feelgood.

Anyway, had a physical (sort of) today - basically it was the results from the last time I had a real physical (which was back in January).

Everything came back mostly normal. However...

I'm 161 lbs now. I don't have a scale, so I don't often get a chance to weigh myself, but i've been under 150 for ...well, for all my life, really, so that number came as a little bit of a surprise. Of course, I had on my shoes... and it's been a while since I've had a haircut. So.

Bloodwork results...

My glucose levels were near the high end of the normal range. So, the doc suggested cutting back on sugary drinks and snacks. Grumble.

And I had high ...liver something or other? Which came as a big shock, considering I don't drink alcohol at all.

And my 'bad' cholesterol levels were really excessive. So, I was told to avoid greasy/fatty foods to help bring that down.

I am supposed to go back in 3 months for a follow up, and if the cholesterol isn't improved, then I'll have to go on medication for it. Harumph.

Guess we'll see how things really are three months from now...

un-check-up

ugh. i still need to call and make an appointment for my yearly physical. SO don't want to. And it's not even that I hate the doctorbs office (although, sure, that plays a role) it's just the inconvenience and being pressured/blackmailed into doing it.
my work offers a 'discount' on the insurance. if you get a yearly physical - and have your doctorb sign a sheet saying you did it - then your rates are 50 bucks less than if you forego having the physical. This seems suspicious to me, and every year i fantasize about lawsuits to end the practice,, but, every year i just end up getting the physical to get the lower cost. I'm sure i'll do the same thing this year too. Just need to get it done before the end of September. blah.

Just discovered Jessica Jones on Netflix.

We're not normally "binge" watchers - if we find a show we like, we'll typically watch an episode - or maybe two - a night.

We just finished episode 5.

The show is good, ya'll.

an old song turned 23

The following songs have been played recently on the *ahem*, "Classic Rock" station:

"In Bloom" by Nirvana
"You Oughta Know" by Alanis Morissette
"December" by Collective Soul

Now, In Bloom, having been released in 1991, is 27 years old.... But the other two songs came out in '95, making them only 23... um.

Still. Hearing songs that were popular in my 20s being played on the classic rock station just feels fundamentally... wrong, somehow.

[dislike]

so, i haven't logged into my facebook account in, easily, 5 years. (More, maybe?) I don't know that i could get in, even if I wanted to, because I certainly don't remember my password.
Anyway.
Despite that, I still get the occasional email from FB telling me updates that others have made. But.
The frustrating thing is that the emails show me only the first few words of the post.
So, I see things from Saren that say, "u can only pick one: Jeff Bezos"

...and then i have no idea what else was said! (Unless I log in. which aint gonna happen. Or I could go ask, in person. Which is more likely.)
But what about OTHER people who post things? I have no way of knowing their complete thoughts.
Sigh.
just another reason to dislike the book of face.

wii u woes

Our Wii U gamepad no longer functions. For  while, it was workng, but only if it was near th Wii U itself. And now... completely kaput.
That's been the case for a while now. It's (at least) 100 dollars to have it sent to Nintendo to get repaired, and we don't have the extra cash to get that done. (And when we do get money, there are numerous other items that tke precedent.)

I just was reminded, though, of all the games we haaave on our Wii U that we can't play. Super Mario Maker, Captain Toad, Mario Kart 8... well, some day.

that'll do

Had a dream last night that Key and Peele were in a third Babe movie.
In the dream, they were transporting Babe ...somewhere, and they had to travel by hot air balloon. There may have been a joke about pigs flying involved.

I don't remember much else from the dream, but now that I've thrown this idea out there, Hollywood, ya'll need to run with it.

top 100 horror movies of all time

What? No Maximum Overdrive? Who made who, indeed.

Anyway. Remember when lists were a thing people did? Good times.

So. Here's a list of the top 100 horror movies - OF ALL TIME. (Oddly, no horror movies appear to be made after 2017. Guess real life is scary enough at that point.)
Also, this list was compiled by critics, so, you know, it's not necessarily ...accurate.

I'm bolding the ones I've seen.

Here's the list:
100. Willow Creek (2014)
99.   Split (2017)
98.   Santa Sangre (1989)
97.   The Others (2001)
96.   The Conjuring 2 (2016)
95.   Dressed to Kill (1984)
94.   Dracula: Pages from a Virgin's Diary (2003)
93.   Save the Green Planet (2004)
92.   The House of the Devil (2009)
91.   We Are What We Are (2013)
90.   The Thing (1982)
89.   Paranormal Activity (2009)
88.   Backcountry (2015)
87.   Gremlins (1984)
86.   The Autopsy of Jane Doe (2016)
85.   Spring (2015)
84.   Altered States (1980)
83.   A Field in England (2014)
82.   Ginger Snaps (2001)
81.   Slither (2006)
80.   The Omen (1976)
79.   The Descent (2006)
78.   Goodnight Mommy (Ich seh, Ich seh) (2015)
77.   Chronicle (2012)
76.   The Devil's Candy (2017)
75.   This Is The End (2013)
74.   Donnie Darko: The Director's Cut (2004)
73.   Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer (1986)
72.   Poltergeist (1982)
71.   An American Werewolf in London (1981)
70.   Near Dark (1987)
69.   28 Days Later (2003)
68.   The Orphanage (2007)
67.   Bone Tomahawk (2015)
66.   Gerald's Game (2017)
65.   Cronos (1994)
64.   The Shining (1980)
63.   Misery (1990)
62.   The Dead Zone (1983)
61.   The Conjuring (2013)
60.   The Exorcist (1973)
59.   The Blair Witch Project (1999)
58.   Frankenweenie (2012)
57.   Let Me In (2010)
56.   The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974)
55.   Little Shop of Horrors (1986)
54.   The Wicker Man (1973)
53.   Don't Breathe (2016)
52.   We Are Still Here (2015)
51.   Phantom of the Opera (1925)
50.   Dawn of the Dead (1979)
49.   The Fly (1986)
48.   Eraserhead (1977)
47.   Suspiria (1977)
46.   What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962)
45.   It Comes at Night (2017)
44.   Dracula (1931)
43.   Zombieland (2009)
42.   Shaun of the Dead (2004)
41.   The Host (2007)
40.   A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)
39.   Train to Busan (Busanhaeng) (2016)
38.   Re-Animator (1985)
37.   Room 237
36.   The Love Witch (2016)
35.   Nosferatu: Phantom der Nacht (Nosferatu the Vampyre) (1979)
34.   Halloween (1978)
33.   Young Frankenstein (1974)
32.   The Loved Ones (2012)
31.   The Evil Dead (1981)
30.   Carrie (1976)
29.   Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978)
28.   Drag Me To Hell (2009)
27.   A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night (2014)
26.   The Innocents (1961)
25.   The Vanishing (Spoorloos) (1981)
24.   Don't Look Now (1973)
23.   The Cabin in the Woods (2012)
22.   The Birds (1963)
21.   Gojira (1956)
20.   The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
19.   Evil Dead 2: Dead by Dawn (1987)
18.   The Witch (2016)
17.   Pan's Labyrinth (2006)
16.   Eyes Without a Face (1962)
15.   Night of the Living Dead (1968)
14.   Freaks (1932)
13.   Aliens (1986)
12.   Let the Right One In (2008)
11.   It Follows (2015)
10.   Frankenstein (1931)
9.     Rosemary's Baby (1968)
8.     The Babadook (2014)
7.     The Bride of Frankenstein (1935)
6.     Repulsion (1965)
5.     King Kong (1933)
4.     Nosferatu, A Symphony of Horror (Nosferatu, eine Symphonie des Grauens) (Nosferatu the Vampire) (1922)
3.     Psycho (1960)
2.     The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (Das Cabinet des Dr. Caligari) (1920)
1.     Get Out (2017)

Hm. Looks like I have a lot of catching up to do. 

twe eig te

2018 is half way over.

I had thought about making a post about ICE, and how, while it's great that the idea of abolishing it has started to gain momentum, I'd prefer that the idea of "prosecute ICE" would grab hold. I guess maybe one step at a time. But,  I shouldn't hold my breath. Heaven forbid that anyone with power actually face any consequences for their abuses.

Anyway, I guess I *did* make that post, since, really, that's all it was going to say. Heh.

you know what, never mind. Contour, what's this song

ugh. SUCH a horribly delivered commercial. The content itself is meh, but the people reading the lines should be ...well, they shouldn't have been compensated for it, let's put it that way.

Anywhat, today was somehow even longer than the longest day of the year, but if there's anything the past two years have taught us, it's that this timeline will constatnly find new ways to surprise you with what you thought wasn't possible.

Speaking of! I totally want a Melania jacket. It would come in handy SO often.
Eh. I guess I don't really care that much. (I do expect that it will make appearances come Halloween time, though. Although the distance between now and end of October is pretty wide, and people's memories are short.... guess it depends on what ELSE happens between now and then. Maybe she'll have other messages on other jackets.)

There was something else on my mind to blog about while I was driving home, and, now, as is typical, I can't remember what it was. Ah well.

"Well what do ya know."

it's been a long day

Man, sometimes - not often enough, lately, but sometimes - I am really funny.

Anyway, yes. Long, hot day. One could say it's been the longest. And the hottest. And you'd be correct on both counts.

It's all downhill from here. (Well, until it starts being uphill again. Oh, earth, with your rotational movements. Never change.)

almost forgot to blog

But then I remembered at (more or less) the last minute. Crisis averted.

....Until Next Time...

water day it was

Went out to Cowabunga Bay for about 4 hours today, rode around on the lazy river and nearly drowned in the wave pool, and slid down the "Surfin USA" water slide, and had really expensive pizza. I'm exhausted, but it was a good time. We have a season pass for the four of us (me, Steph, and the younger kids), so hopefully we can go at least a few more times during the year.

43

pretty good bday.
Worked, which was eh, but not all that bad. Saren bought me sodas, Wendy brought in a strawberry cake, and Joni got me a gift card to Amazon.
Then we went to dinner at Peter Piper Pizza (because i'm a grown up) and bought some new board games ("Unearth" and "Hey, That's My Fish")
uploaded the one year anniversary vlog post for OK What Now
and played some Mario Party Ten.
blogged, and now I'm going to go to bed - because I'm old, and going to bed at 930 at night is a freaking awesome present, shut up, you'll understand when you're older.

FireLickyCat Scratch Fever

Scratch, a coding site created by MIT, has caught Silas's interest lately. He's created quite a few games on there, and they're pretty cool. His username there is FireLickyCat, and you can find all his creations here.

oh, there it is

Guess my spark for story ideas just took a month off. It's back now. (Which is good, I was starting to miss it)
Now I just need to ensure that I *do* something with it.

(Easier said than done, especially when the 103 degree heat, driving, and stress from the work day make it so all I really want to do is sleep for the next four hours...)

done done on to the next one

It's been a month(ish) since I wrote the second draft of Stupid Monsters - and other than the teacher, nobody has given me feedback, which is... um. Okay, actually, my dad sort of did, and Saren said she liked it, and a coworker said she liked it, but otherwise, I'm still left longing in the constructive (or otherwise!) criticism department.

As a result, I've not gone back to do any of the (necessary) work on it. *I* haven't even reread the story since I wrote it.

So, it only makes sense that an idea for a sort of sequel would start popping up in my mind. It's *just* an idea at this point - not even a plot or really any characters (other than one, and she's really just an avatar)... but it's not going away. Hrm.

go knights go

So, we (along with, apparently, 29% of all other television sets in the city of Las Vegas) watched (part of) the Stanley Cup game one yesterday. It was wildly entertaining! Even though we didn't watch the entire game (I did go online later to make sure the Knights won - and they did (and I felt pride about it! What in the world is happening???)), I ...kind of got sucked into it a bit. Like, I don't care about sports or hockey teams or any of that AT ALL.
And yet... I found myself getting tense whenever the capitals were near our net, and ... yeah. I guess I can kind of see how you could easily get into it.

I'll still be very glad when all the games are done, since it's a massive amount of extra work for me (and a LOT of pressure/stress since the commercials that are airing during the games are SUPER pricey. I screw something up there, it's gonna be noticed, for sure). But, still. Go Knights Go.

oh, oh, oh, it's magic

So, I went to Firehouse subs to pick up dinner tonight. I ordered 3 subs, two drinks, and two cookies.
After I paid, the clerk handed me the cups and I went to fill them up, then sat down at a nearby table and waited while the subs were being prepared.
I realized then that the cookies I ordered were sitting on the counter in front of the clerk, and I was supposed to grab them myself.
So, I approached the counter and took a chocolate chip and an oatmeal raisin cookie that were in the pile of saran-wrapped cookies. I then sat back down, and waited.

Food gets done, and the employee that made my food handed me my bag of sandwiches. I thanked him, and left.

I get home, and we start going through our sandwiches - they were all in cardboard containers - each with a numbered sticker on them; 1, 2, 3. (I'm guessing that it matched the receipt, but I didn't keep it, and can't confirm that.)

After we finished the sandwiches, we went to eat the cookies. And that's when I saw that the chocolate chip cookie had a sticker with the #4 on it, and the oatmeal raisin had a sticker with the #5 on it.

HOW DID THEY DO THAT???

Nobody touched the cookies but me. And, yes, i'm sure the stickers were on there all along, but... why would they have stickers on the cookies out on display, and how coincidental is it that I would grab the ones that corresponded with the amount of items I was purchasing??

I feel almost like I'm on the Carbonaro Effect, except that it's not *that* crazy a trick, and also, it wasn't discovered until I was at home, and there were no cameras here to film me when the surprise happened. (That I know of)
But, still.

so long ambition, so long desire, hello apathy

So, since two weeks ago (no, wait, three? nope - two.) when my class ended, I've had pretty much zero drive to write again. Sigh. I guess it was fun while it lasted.

I've thought about revisiting/revising Stupid Monsters again, a little bit. But that's as far as it's gone. A little thought. I haven't even reread it completely through myself. I assume that when I *do* read it again, that that will mean I'm ready to take that step  of working on it again.
Of course, it's equally likely that it will join the list of all my past work and just continue collecting dust.

it was "Laurel" last night, and the first part of this morning. But since about 10, it's consistently been "Yanny".
Weird.

Think my years of bad living are finally catching up to me. I feel drained and bluh.
Anyway, it's really weird to think that every single person you see came from a mother. It's just ...sort of amazing.And yet ordinary and super common.

2 sad semesters it was only 15 grand

So, all done with school.
Fittingly I finished my second draft (71 pages, exclamation point) of Stupid Monsters today. I turned it in to the teach, and also emailed copies to the rest of the class. I appreciated a lot of their insights and feedback, and told them as much. They've got my personal email address, so, if a friendship or two can be maintained from that, well, that'll be cool. I really hope, though, that I'll be able to keep up my motivation and [urgh, someotherword I can't think of right now] for writing.
SMv2 has some obvious flaws in it as well, and in a week or so, I plan on going back and fixing things, even if I don't receive any additional criticism from anyone that has read it. So, that's of the good. I also hope that I can generate the muster to creating something OTHER than Stupid Monsters. It's a great, fun universe I've made, but I feel like for the past month or two it's ALL i've done creatively. (partly because that's the case)

next question, please

the universe is just a big old simulation designed to answer questions posed by whomever is running it.
Since, oh, July of 2015, the question was "How many laws can a wealthy scum fuck get away with breaking with no repercussions?" And now we have seen that the answer is "All of them."
So, now that we have the answer, can we just move on to a more interesting and less stress inducing situation? Please?

flash fiction short story novella novel series

Stupid Monsters just won't stop growing. I'm *still* working on draft 2 (3?) and i'm on page 52, with ... another 20 to go? Maybe 25? It's (mostly) plotted out, but as I type it up (and the problem is that each week I say, "Okay, gonna work on the story now" and then I DON'T, until freaking Sunday/Monday, and then I spend all day doing the work I should have done over the course of the past seven days....
Anyway. As I keep typing it out, it just...kinda keeps going. Which is fine, it needs to be as long as it needs to be. I just need to get it DONE so that I can start fixing the stuff that I know needs fixing.

And, you know, tonight (in 17 minutes, actually, so I need to wrap this up and make my way to the class...) is the penultimate session. And people have expressed a LARGE desire to read the finished product, so I feel like if I don't get it done soon, I'm not only disappointing myself, but my followers (heh) too.

lost time and whatever else

i can not believe that it is twenty-eighteen. And already (almost) the 5th month. So often I hear people talk about stuff from 2011 or 2006 or 2017 and I'm like, ...oh, yeah. Those are all in the past. It REALLY doesn't feel like it a lot of the time. Is that a symptom of getting older? Where it still feels like fifteen years ago, date wise? Or is it just a me thing? Or both. Probably both. 

I've got a sleeping (though awake now, because children are loud and noisy) dog next to me, that's a pretty great thing.

Every Friday my work does a segment during the noon news called "Forever Home Friday" where the Animal Foundation brings in a dog (and every once in a while a cat) to be adopted. Supposedly EVERY single animal they've ever showcased has ended up getting bought. And they've been doing this segment for decades. Which is pretty darn cool, actually. I'm all for things that increase the amount of joy in the world. Lord knows there's plenty of garbage out there, and things that are working against people's happiness. 

Speaking of increasing joy... we're going to go grab some food for dinner, and possibly get a new board game. 

to make a long story short - too late!!

So, I'm mid re-write of Stupid Monsters, and I know I was told to make the story "as long as it needs to be", but.... I'm on page 28*. And I'm at ...maybe the 51% point?
I think it's still a decent story, I'm just... it might be too much of a good thing? I don't know. I'm going to finish it up, and see what people say, but it wouldn't surprise me if "dial it back some" is in the feedback I end up getting. Heh.


*(For comparison's sake, draft 1 was 18 pages, although the final three or four were quite obviously rushed)

whatever

not today, apparently. you'd think I'd learn.  And, honestly, the idea was sort of lame to begin with, and I don't even know if i want to do it at all. (OF course, i'm also running on 4.5 hours of sleep, so maybe my mindset isn't teh best right now either0

Grading Awol

I like AWOLNATION. The band has put out 3 albums now, each with 14 tracks on it. There have also been three different songs from various soundtracks, bringing the total number of songs I'm familiar with to 45. (I'm positive that they have other songs in their oeuvre, but, we're sticking with what I know.)
For the next five entries, I'll be picking 9 songs to discuss. I'll be talking about the songs, the lyrics, and, if they have one available, the music video.
Each song will be assigned a number, 1 - 45, and then I'll use the magic of the internet to select 9 randomly chosen numbers to determine which order the songs get talked about. 
The songs (and their numbers) are:

From the album Megalithic Symphony:
1. "Megalithic Symphony"
2. "Some Sort of Creature"
3. "Soul Wars"
4. "People"
5. "Jump on My Shoulders"
6. "Burn It Down"
7. "Guilty Filthy Soul"
8. "Kill Your Heroes"
9. "My Nightmare's Dream"
10. "Sail"
11. "Wake Up"
12. "Not Your Fault"
13.  "All I Need"
14. "Knights of Shame"

From the soundtrack for the video game Injustice: Gods Among Us:
15. "THISKIDSNOTALRIGHT"

From the album Run:
16. "Run"
17. "Fat Face"
18. "Hollow Moon (Bad Wolf)"
19. "Jailbreak"
20. "KOOKSEVERYWHERE!!!"
21. "I Am"
22. "Headrest for my Soul"
23. "Dreamers"
24. "Windows"
25. "Holy Roller"
26. "Woman Woman"
27. "Lie Love Live Love"
28. "Like People, Like Plastic"
29. "Drinking Lightning"

From the soundtrack for Iron Man 3:
30. "Some Kind of Joke"

From the album Here Come the Runts:
31. "Here Come the Runts"
32. "Passion"
33. "Sound Witness System"
34. "Miracle Man"
35. "Handyman"
36. "Jealous Buffoon"
37. "Seven Sticks of Dynamite"
38. "A Little Luck... and a Couple of Dogs"
39. "Table for One"
40. "My Molassess"
41. "Cannonball"
42. "Tall, Tall Tale"
43. "The Buffoon"
44. "Stop That Train"

From the soundtrack for Fifty Shades of Grey:
45. "I'm On Fire"

garbage

almost 20 years ago today (it was 19), was the day that Steph and I got to go backstage before the Garbage concert and meet the band, and the photo with me and Shirley Manson was taken.

That's crazy.

I got nothing else to blog about - I was going to start the Awolnation posts, but since I fell asleep during Survivor, (my office pick got voted out, but he was a garbage person anyway, so even though I won't win the jackpot, at least he's not on our screens anymore) I'm obviously not awake enough to create soemthing that requires that much brain power and googling, so... next time it is.

workshop done

The workshop yesterday went pretty well. I had originally planned on recording it with my phone, but didn't - didn't have time to set it up and/or ask if it would be allowed, plus it went on for nearly 20 minutes and I don't think I had that much free space/battery power left on my phone. But, I received quite a bit of interesting feedback, along with an idea on how to tweak a certain element of the story that changes a LOT, but could make it better in a lot of ways. I was going to post it here - I may, still, but I ...might wait until after the semester, because I don't know if posting it online is something that I'm "allowed" to do. I may be over thinking this. heh.

We'll see, I guess. I might post "Stupid Monsters" for my next blog post, or I might go with my planned Awolnation post(s) instead. Or maybe something different altogether.

note to self:

Don't make plans.

no, time

seriously, where does it go?? How can X amount of time simply ...get used up?
And, dude. Google. Enough, kay? I'm not a machine. Give it a rest.

14 tabs opened right now
working on powerpoint presentations
trying to think of
what to blog
what to write
what to read
what to say

it's national poetry day, apparently, even though national poetry MONTH is April. Who decides these things?? Did they not coordinate with one another? Is there a national poetry week, too? I bet that's in August or something. .....aaaah! Okay, if I were more inclined to simply go back and erase what I wrote, I'd look a little less foolish, but whatever.  Mistakes equal learning. (Well, sometimes)
So, it's WORLD poetry day today, and NATIONAL poetry month in April. That makes things clearer.

Anyway, you'd think that with my recent foray into poetry with my class that I'd be all over the idea of creating some poetry to share right now.

You'd think.

...actually, no, I'm not going to poem-it-up right now, but I DO have some lyrics in my head that are hilarious and apt. And, so, I'll end it with those.

so smooth you can hear the beard
so smooth you can hear the beard
three times is poetry
so smooth you can hear the beard

impatient!

Ugh. I turned in my short story to be workshopped in creative writing yesterday, and NEXT Monday is spring break, so I have to wait TWO weeks before I'm able to get feedback!
Meanwhile, my brain has been going over it repeatedly, thinking about the things I liked (a surpsingly large percentage, actually) and the things I didn't/know can be improved upon (...also a surprisingly large percentage.) Okay, not really, there ARE flaws, of course, and I'm curious to see whether anyone else points out what I've got in mind. But I have to wait another 13 days. Agony.

Perhaps once I've gone through the feedback stage, I'll post it here.

goat

Not kidding!

3.14

It's Pi day, Pi day, gotta get down on Pi day...

I'll need to circle by the grocery store on the way home from work to buy a pie.

I have a lot of writing to do this week and no desire (currently) to do any of it. That'll undoubtedly change - most certainly when I'm in the car, away from my notebooks, pens, and keyboards.

Speaking of which, it's practically time to get going... so, this entry was short and meaningless. I really should start planning topics ahead.

end(ish) of the day edit - bought two pies - one cherry, one pumpkin. Then got home, walked thru the door, and promptly dropped the cherry pie all over the floor and Silas's brand new shoes. Sad pie day.
The pumpkin is still fine, and I'm sure the rest of the family will enjoy it (I don't like pumpkin pie), but, man, what an unfortunate event. 

what even

I haven't been following the news lately, but the cold open from SNL and just the general feeling in the air... is the Mueller investigation a bust? Did ...Trump actually get away with his shit? Again? Cuz, dude. Just fuck that noise thirty-nine times.  Hopefully I'm wrong, but I'm too tired to confirm (or deny) it right now, and, honestly, a little too worried to look and find out that, yeah, it's as bad as I fear.

stalling/ procrastinating/ other words that mean that

Ugh. I have a ton of school work to do, and zero desire to do any of it. As is evidenced by a) that I'm blogging and b) that it's all due TODAY, and I've had the last five days when I could have worked on any of it, but didn't. Sigh.

And, at least, I'm telling myself this so I can sleep at night (hahaha), IN THEORY today I was going to be all gung-ho about getting shit done, but then I had a really REALLY bad day at work, and it freaking drained any drive I had to do pretty much anything straight outta me.

I have done SOME school stuff, so it's not a complete waste of a day. And there are still a little over five hours left before the deadline of midnight, so... yeah.

What we need

(this is the villanelle I wrote last week for my creative writing course)

Let me tell you what it is we need.
A few more guns inside our schools.
Freedom, give it up, sacrifice to bleed.

You think you want leaders who know how to lead.
Instead we have actors who break all the rules.
Let me tell you what it is we need.

The engines are running, running on greed
blood, tears, and oil - are there alternate fuels?
Freedom, give it up, sacrifice to bleed.

"The other side is wrong" is everyone's creed.
Divisions deepen. A side, you must choose.
Let me tell you what it is we need.

We're falling apart with sickening speed.
All our old heroes, now just tarnished old fools.
Freedom, give it up, sacrifice to bleed.

Thoughts and prayers while victims plead.
Online echo chambers becoming cesspools.
Let me tell you what it is we need.
Freedom, give it up, sacrifice to bleed.

I knew you were going to be a good time to time.

I've got nothing else to blog about right now, so I'm going to do a few predictive texts, just for fun.

Everything after the bold will be whatever my phone predicts should be said next from these famous movie quotes.

May the force of the day, February 15th, and I have to do the same time.

If my calculations are correct, when this baby hits 88 miles per hour, and I have to do the same time.

The first rule of Fight Club is a good thing, right?

My Mama always said "Life is like a box of chocolates; the same time.

When someone asks, "Are you a god?" you say that I have a vehicle to the ftp site under the filename of resend.

Nobody puts Baby Einstein the same time.

I'm mad as hell, and I have to do the same time.

...okay. Obviously, I need to "do the same time" a LOT.  Maybe I'll try this again at some point, but with something other than movie quotes (or different ones, for whatever reason my brain was blanking on quotable films).

insomnia is fun

no, wait. it's the opposite of that.

time Marches on

how in the world did it get to be March already?

And of twenty-freaking-eighteen?????

Work was exhausting, yet again, because it was Friday, and for the last two hours or so of my shift, technology was not my friend. Made for a very frustrating experience.

But, home now, and I don't have to worry about work for forty-eight-ish hours, so.

For my creative writing class this week we had to write a villanelle.  A villanelle is a style of poem that apparently is obscure enough that blogger's word processor has it underlined in red. But, basically it's a 19 line poem that uses two rhymes throughout, and alternately repeats lines 1 and 3. So, it's A B A, A B repeat line 1,  A B repeat line 3, A B repeat line 1, A B repeat line 3, A B repeat line 1 repeat line 3.

Not easy to do, but the one I wrote is... decent. After I get feedback on it, I may end up posting it here. If I had more free time (and, let's be honest, more ambition) I think it might be sort of fun to try and compose some more of them. 

Next week is the end of poetry, and then it's on to fiction. Woot woot! Although that means the class is already half way finished. Boo. I've enjoyed the poetry section a good deal more than I anticipated I would, though. It ain't all bad.

weekend update

heh. No SNL news, just an update on things that have gone on this weekend.

Watched Jigsaw (ehhh, it was better than 7, but that's a pretty low bar to clear), played Enchanted Forest, (Stephanie won), read a horrible short story for class ("Paul's Case" by Willa Cather), washing machine finally kicked the bucket, put the super-old tricycle out to the curb (so sad!), and now I've blogged. Not all that exciting a day, but there ya have it.

nothing new under the sun

...did you try checking behind it?

Just having one of those afternoons where I can't seem to find the motivation to type up anything. On the bright side, I've finished (or will have, once I publish this) my blog post for today, so that's one thing down. still have a short history response, an english 102 discussion post to make, and some poetry to write. One thing at a time, I guess.

Relating back to the topic, for a second, what made me think of that was how part of what's holding me back (of getting started to write) is the feeling that, to quote the Barenaked Ladies, "it's all been done". (woo hoo hoo!)

And, yeah, it probably has, but, so what? Originality ain't all that, is it? I just read The Yellow Wallpaper for the first time ever, and it's been mimicked hundreds of times, but it was still a great short story.

Eh. I just went down the tvtropes rabbit hole for a while, and lost my train of thought, and my desire to even continue with it. Besides, I still have all that school work to do...

muse hunting

As I've mentioned before, I'm enjoying my Creative Writing course.
However.

I have to write two (!!) poems sometime before Monday. (Heh, I'm pretty tired right now, and originally started to type "Wednesday". Time is meaningless!) I'm being 'workshopped' on Monday, which means that the two poems I bring in will be critiqued by the whole class. (Assuming the whole class shows up. This past Monday there were five people absent, out of a class of 16. Although it WAS the Monday after the Superbowl, and (apparently!?) that's the biggest sick day of the year. Maybe that counts for classes, too.)

So, yeah. Gots to get my creative on, and pretty soon, too.
I've already got one of the poems written, and I'm fairly proud of it (we'll see if my opinion changes after having it picked apart). But I still need to get one more written that I feel comfortable bringing in to the vultures. And then I have to write one for my weekly writing assignment. (There is nothing that says that that can't be the same poem, so, I mean, *technically* I could save myself some time and effort by only writing ONE new poem. But, I rarely do things the efficient way. Plus, I would rather actually create two. I WANT to make more art. I'm just feeling. tired. uninspired. wishing I was wired. ... okay, i'll stop, because rhyming is ...ergh. something. Have I mentioned how tired I am? I feel like I have.

Right now, i'm at the library, using one of their computers, hoping that inspiration strikes. Oh! I was going to write down some phrases that I wanted to just keep in my toolbox.
"Broken ocean" was one of them.
And I hada  few others while I was driving in, but, of course, that was when I was nowhwere near a computer or a piece of paper.
"weasel fucking" (or, rather,  "weasels fucking" - I guess there really IS a difference between those two...)
oh, I rmember now - "as confusing as a four-way stop" (or as "hesitant", not sure which is better; guess it depends on the piece it's being used in)
"as neglected as a Christmas tree in March"
"revised our relationship like a Wikipedia entry"

I've been trying to pick up more metaphors and similes during my day-to-day life. You can see and judge the results above.

For now, though, I need to get ready for my Com 101 class, so I'll publish this and be done with it.

27 years from now

The date can be written as 2/3/45, so that's something kind of cool to look forward to.

Our bean is a teen

To celebrate we went to Gravady, had Sonic for lunch, took her to Clare's for her to get new fake nails, and later there will be pizza, popcorn and Potter (we're working our way thru the series by book & movie, Azkaban the book was finished last night, so the movie will be watched in a few hours).
All in all, a pretty great day. (Although I still can't believe she's a teenager now!!)

Happy Birthday, Irina-bean!!

You can't find the woods while you're hiding in the trees

("Right Where It Belongs by Nine Inch Nails)

Random ..ish. entry time.

I keep having moments of ...like near enlightenment? Semi-woke-ness? I don't know what to call it exactly, but it's like these flashes of insight of things that should be obvious to like, everyone. An example. The other day while driving, I realized that everyone else has their own worlds they are in. That even people I dislike or don't really think about at all... they have their own backstories and lives and dreams and fears and wants and thoughts and ideas. And...yea, obviously I've thought that and known that and I don't think of every single person as some sort of NPC or anything like that, but it's just ...sometimes you kind of forget that all these other people are.... other people. And the realization hit me and it was just like Oh my god. That guy actually exists BEYOND the three minutes that I interacted with him.
I'm explaining it horribly, I suspect. OR I'm maybe making myself sound borderline psychotic, but that's another thing, lately I've been running low on fucks to give about how I'm perceived.
Okay, that's a gross over-exaggeration, because I am still largely motivated by other's perceptions of me, but ...here and there, I'm starting to accept the idea that "who cares if I look foolish?" Or if I'm wrong about something? Yolo, right? Congrats, P@, it only took 40 years to start to grow up.
Interestingly, I think that it's my classes that are pushing these developments. We had to give impromptu speeches last Tuesday, and while I was still shaky/nervous before (and a little bit after), I did fine, and I was like, "I'm just going to give it my best, and it's not like I'm ever going to see any of these people again after the next three months, so does it really matter what they think?"
Anyway. Yesterday during Com class we watched a few TED speeches, and one of them was from a teacher and she said something that had me have one of those "mini-woke" moments - she talked about how she has had classes that she felt like she failed because they didn't meet academic guidelines (I'm paraphrasing), and it just hit me that ...teachers have to feel a massive amount of responsibility for whether their students pass or fail or are learning or are interested at all. It was like, "holy cow, I never REALLY thought of it from the teacher's point of view before."
Speaking of teachers... one of my friends in high school - a guy I really admired - wound up becoming a teacher. About a year ago, I decided to google him, just to see what he's been up to (we haven't spoken in nearly 2 decades, I am not in touch with anyone that I attended high school with) and ...found that he had been arrested for inappropriate conduct with a student.
It's like, jesus, it really is #allmen.
I had an idea for a story (or, hey, maybe it should be a reality) of a pill that reduces/eliminates libido. It would be called Libidon't. (heh) But, seriously, I wonder if there were a way to make men less interested in passing on their genetic code if that would ...fix anything. Probably a lot of stuff, yeah, but I'm sure there would still be some other problems. Maybe. Because I do think that SO MUCH of the craptacular toxic masculinity rape culture problems we have derives from the power of the penis and guys believing that they need/deserve to do whatever it takes in order to spread their seed.
Since this is a random entry, I don't really have a conclusion, and I have other things I need to be doing online, so I'm just gonna hit publish and leave it at that.

busy days ahead

It's Thursday, which means I have a class to attend (I'm at CSN now, as I type this up - taking a brief break in between other online assignments, and getting ready to head to my Communications course, which is starting in a little over an hour).

I also haven't filmed today's OK What Now episode, so I need to do that shortly. (It'll be episode 98, which is somewhat amazing that I've already gotten that high.)

Next week I've got creative writing on Monday.

Tuesday and Thursday of next week are speech days in Comm 101 - mine is due Thursday, so I have ...exactly (well, a little over) one week to finish my 3-5 minute autobiographical speech. I wonder if I could just read blog entries for my speech, and if that would be sufficient. Heh.

Wednesday of next week is the last day of January, so I need to make my yearly joke that day. (It feels like it's been January all year long*) Wednesday will also be episode 100 of OK What Now, and I currently have NOTHING special planned for it. Harper suggested I buy 100 Reese's Peanut Butter cups. Or, 50, I guess, since they come in pairs. And then I eat them all. That ...does not actually sound appealing, because much as I love some peanut butter cups, teh thought of that many is nauseating.

Next Thursday is both February 1st (Irina's birthday) and my speech day. I'm taking that day off work, naturally.

And then Friday is Groundhog Day AND it's my turn to bring food in to the office. A few months ago, our department decided that every first Friday of the month one of us would cook something up, and bring it in to share. I agreed to this idea with the thought that I would simply BUY something to bring in, only to find out that it apparently has to be homemade. Stupid fine print. Anyway, I am thinking that this time will be soup of some kind, because soup is easy, and it's a winterish type food.

So, yeah. Lots of stuff coming up. Now I need to get back to school stuff.

*totally counts, in case I don't get a chance to blog on 1/31/18.

hey hey hey let's not do drugs

So, tonight was the first class of my English 205 (Introduction to Creative Writing: Fiction & Poetry) course, and it was a blast! Online classes are fine, but I think being in person (at least with this and my communications 101 class, which is the other in-person course I'm taking this semester) allows me to get more out of it.
It helps matters that this course seems like a very fun one - the teacher is very fun, with a great sense of humor, and the students are all pretty cool, too.
But what's really surprising to me is that in both classes (I've attended 3 now, two of the Comm. and then the one English tonight) I've spoken up, like a lot. And that just doesn't seem like ME, ya know? I'm not one to draw attention to myself, but, evidently, I enjoy having a little bit of a spotlight on me. Who knew?

Tonight's class had me sharing all sorts of stuff - I related the "bomb/bong" story, I sang the turtle-peep song, and I gave my Patypical interpretations of some poems. And people loved it all! Oh, and I had to write some doggerel (bad poetry), which I also shared, and because it is internet related, and because we all love bad poetry, I'm going to share with you all now:

So-social media
I posted my love on the book of Face
I posted my love all over the place
I was looking for likes
and thumbs up and views
I was looking for love
from you.
My heart is a-Twitter whenever I tweet
someday I hope we will meet
I follow your instagram and I send you email
why does my love for you always fail?

that's my secret, I'm angry all the time

There's probably something wrong with me. Well, ha ha ha, there's a lot wrong with me, but specifically, for the past... however long, month, two, five? I don't know exactly, time is meaningless, but for however long, I have been mad a lot. And it's RAGE. I'm furious when I drive.

While driving is the main impetus for my anger, it's also crept into my work day. I find myself swearing at emails and occasionally actually typing out my profanities (I erase them before sending, of course, because I do like having a job that pays for stuff) and lately I"ve been noticing i get curt more and more with coworkers who are making requests that aren't all that unusual, just slightly inconvenient, but they're causing my rage levels to rise.

I came to the realization that anger is about lack of control, and that keeping in mind that control is illusory may be the way to keep that in check.

Roming roon to Retflix

The crazy hijinks of two upper-class millennials (woo, avocado toast!), a reporter, a recovering drug addict, and their genetically altered canine who can speak partial English. (But only the druggie can hear him, maybe?)

They travel across the country kink-shaming old white guys who enjoy dressing up as supernatural beings. (There are surprisingly quite a lot of them. Freaking Republicans, man.)

A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away

We've been on a very Star Warsy kick lately, having the youngins watch the original trilogy over the past couple days, and then we just returned from watching episode 8 in the theaters. (No spoilers for The Last Jedi in this blog post, so I'll just say: It was very good.)

I've been trying to avoid the internet for fear of spoilers and have, for the most part, been pretty successful, but one of the things I have gleaned is that there are some people who were pretty unhappy with the latest installment. That's to be expected, of course, because you can't please everyone, so I was a little bit worried going in that there was going to be something about the movie that was going to cause ...well, I don't know what I was fearing, honestly. Because, like I said, I've been avoiding things, so I wasn't sure WHY people seemed upset.
...and after having watched the film, the answer is obvious. It's because people are, by and large, stupid, and like to get outraged about trivial matters.
The newest Star Wars is excellent (if a little long) and there is absolutely no reason to hate on it.

Now, the ending of Return of the Jedi, on the other hand... (having not seen the prequels, the kids needed us to tell them who that third ghost was). Also, the entire Star Wars movies love them some wipes, don't they?

Anyway, really looking forward to episode 9, just have to wait another year and a half-ish.

marsh-mal-oh

Can you believe it's the 9th already? Like, seriously, where did the first week of 2018 vanish to? It feels like it should be the 3rd. Maybe the 4th. Weird.

I went to the doctorb yesterday; everything seems to be fine, I guess. They took an EKG and said it looked normal. My blood pressure was a little high. They took blood & urine... but I have to go back next week to find out the results, I guess. Honestly, the only reason I really even went was because I needed a new prescription for my asthma inhaler. (Done) The doc did suggest that I take an allergy test in hopes of possibly narrowing down what is causing my asthma flareups. I'm skeptical, but guess we'll see.

It rained more or less all day today and yesterday, after having had absolutely NO rain for the past 110 days. Sadly, it isn't in the forecast that it's going to now rain for 110 days straight to balance it out. But, honestly, the past forty-eight hours have seemed like four months of rain in a way. Rain is great, really. Driving in it, though, is another story. Driverless cars can not get here soon enough.

There's a new promo on air for our news morning show, and it has these singers singing what has to be the worst jingle/song I've heard in a long time. It's truly cringey. I was looking for it online, but I don't think it's made it's way there yet. Once it does, the internet will be a slightly worse place. Sorry, everyone. I didn't make the song, but I still feel like its very existence is a loss for the good guys.